Bama SBC Prez on Muslim Cleric's Fatwah/Huckabee

The Alabama Baptist has a piece by Sondra Washington this week about Moderate Muslim clerics fatwah, edict, against Islamic terrorism.

Bama fundamentalist President Roger Wilmore's concluding comments in the piece are of interest. He says: "I am hopeful but I must admit I am also skeptical. I want to believe that there are those who embrace Islam who are not militant and violent. The effect of Islam on the American culture is not cause by bombs and bullets....alone. There is also the threat of subtle syncretism of religious beliefs that has the potential of undermining the Christian foundation upon which this country was founded."

That is an interesting statement. I believe Martin Accad sponsored by the Alsbom.org and Samford University would have had a differently inflected response, more in common with Charles Kimball of When Religion Becomes Evil than Wilmore has.
This statement may rise to nuance the Presidential campaign of Arkansas Gov Huckabee as Huck's Baptist shaping is coming under more scrutiny. Huck's promotion of moderate Baptists in Arkansas should become part of the conversation as well as pressing Huckabee on the Baptist World Alliance, a group held in disdain by Roger Wilmore and many of the strong conviction Baptists and other members of the religious right campaigning for Huckabee in Iowa.
The recent history of the SBC should be held up to as much scrutiny as the Governor himself.
Even so as a conversation pointed out to me today; one thing Huckabee has learned as a Baptist preacher is in Baptist polity it only takes 50% plus one to move a preacher on to another pasture. How all this shapes his political character has yet to be determined though the recent NY Times and now MOther Jones articles are headed in the right direction.
As i have said many times before the discussion should be framed by Garry Wills and the lingering shadow of Karl Rove and Richard Land over SBC and recent national political history.

Here are key folks for the article yet to be written.

Randall Balmer of Columbia who has called Land a counterfeit Baptist.

Stan Hastey who has great anecdote on Land from 1982 and what Land said at the time he wanted to correct in the SBC.

Charles Marsh of UVA. Marsh can bring Bush judicial appointee Charles Pickering into the conversation to help the rest of America understand why the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC by which Huckabee benefitted is not good for the character of our nation.

Jeannie Westmoreland. Westmoreland is wife of the President of Samford University, former President of Huckabee's alma mater Oauchita. Huck appointed Ms. Westmoreland to the Arkansas Education committee which she later chaired.
I doubt she is in agreement with Huckabee on SBC BFM 2000, or with the tone of Wilmore's take on the Muslim clerics fatwah; though I would not be surprised if like myself and others she isn't inspired by the higher nature of Huckabee's William Jennings Bryan inflected economic populism.

David Currie. Currie is something of an ecumenical cowboy Baptist in Texas and understands the higher nature of the grassroots to which Huckabee has the strongest appeal; at same time Currie abhors the Richard Land fundamentalist wing of the SBC that Rove Gamed the last 20 years, making the Huckabee current resonance possible.

Chandler Davidson of Rice.

Auburn's Wayne Flynt

Baxter Wynn of FBC, Greenville, South Carolina.

Ginny Brant; Harry Dent's daughter in Seneca, South Carolina.

Truett Cathy and his son Dan of Chic Fil A
The Cathy's are conservative Baptist businessmen respected across the board in Baptist life with family in the Southern Baptist foreign missions entity.
Their former corporate attorney a couple years ago ran for Atty Gen of Georgia and current Gov Perdue was strongly supported by the Cathy's.